• Font Size    
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Report: Nottingham Faced Prostitution Allegations

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +   
Oct 30, 2008 1:16 pm US/Mountain

Report: Nottingham Faced Prostitution Allegations

DENVER (CBS4) ― The federal court system disclosed Thursday its misconduct proceedings against the former chief judge of the U.S, District Court for Colorado were broader than previously known.

Edward Nottingham resigned his lifetime judgeship on Oct. 21 at a critical point in the secret proceedings into misconduct allegations against him.

Thursday's disclosure showed he resigned less than three weeks after the court system notified him of the broader scope of the proceedings.

The broader proceedings included an Oct. 1 complaint by the chief judge of the Denver-based federal appeals court alleging Nottingham had misused his court-owned cell phone to make calls to prostitutes and that he had lied to during the investigation into several allegations against him.

A court source told CBS4 the wider scope of the internal court system proceedings against Nottingham seemed to be a factor in his decision to resign rather than continuing to fight the proceedings. The source said Nottingham resigned just two or three days before the court system was to meet to decide what action to take against him and that Nottingham feared what the action would be.

Meanwhile, CBS4 has learned the state agency that regulates lawyers has given an attorney for Nottingham 20 days to respond to a request that the agency investigate Nottingham for misconduct.

The request was made by Sean Harrington, who posted the agency's response on his web site, KnowYourCourts.com.

The agency -- the Colorado Supreme Court's attorney regulation office -- told Nottingham's attorney to "please provide your client's position" on Harrington's request.

In addition to the federal court system's investigation of judges' misconduct and the potential state agency's investigation of lawyer's misconduct, Nottingham may be facing another investigation.

A Denver television station recently reported the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of Nottingham.

Before Thursday's final report from the federal court system, news reports said the court system proceeding against Nottingham
included allegations he:

*Had been a client of prostitution businesses.

*Spent more than $3,000 at a topless night club in one night.

*Could not remember he had spent that much money because he had a lot to drink.

*Those behaviors may have brought disrepute to the judiciary and constituted misconduct.

*Violated court policy by viewing sexually explicit images on his court computer.

*Parked illegally in a handicapped parking space and misused his authority by threatening to call U.S. marshals because a wheelchair-bound woman complained to him at the parking lot.

Thursday's final report did not disclose the findings and conclusions of the investigation and proceedings.

The report said the investigation "included numerous interviews, review of credit card, telephone and computer usage records, and inspection of computer hard drives."

Because of Nottingham resignation, the federal court system ended its proceedings against him.

When Nottingham's resignation was announced, an attorney for him said they would have no future comment.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Curious & Controversial News

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Colorado & Denver News

Top News Stories

© MMIX, CBS Television Stations Inc. All Rights Reserved.